Landlord Agrees to $725K Settlement in Wrongful Eviction Case
A Portland-based landlord accused of wrongly evicting a Vancouver renter and her ill mother has agreed to pay $725,000 in what tenant attorneys say is Washington’s largest settlement for alleged wrongful eviction.
Princeton Property Management and renter Aaron Allen agreed to the deal in June following years of litigation that had broader implications for tenants’ rights. Tenant advocates hope the high price tag will discourage landlords from swift evictions that could be legally dubious.
“Wrongful eviction is not a minor matter. It’s a major injustice, and now landlords and their insurers know it can cost them dearly,” Northwest Justice Project attorney John Wolff said in a statement.
The property management company denied that its actions were illegal and in the settlement agreement did not admit any wrongdoing. An attorney for the landlord said he was not authorized to comment.
Allen and her mother faced eviction from their Vancouver apartment in 2022 over cleanliness issues the landlord said created a severe health and safety hazard. At the time, both were experiencing serious health complications and Allen had recently undergone an amputation of her foot.
The Allens initially avoided eviction by signing an agreement with the landlord in which they agreed to resolve the issues. They also agreed to pay rent that the landlord did not accept while the eviction case had been playing out. But that agreement also included language allowing the landlord to bypass the usual eviction process if the tenants violated the agreement, according to court documents. So, when the Allens were one day late paying the back rent, the landlord rejected that payment and moved to evict them.
Princeton initially succeeded, but the state Court of Appeals later sided with the Allens, finding that these types of agreements can’t require tenants to waive rights they have under state law. The eviction order was unenforceable, the court found in 2024, and tenant advocates celebrated the ruling as securing protections for renters across the state.
Even so, the decision changed little for Allen.
The apartment had offered stability as she cared for her mother. But the eviction — and bouncing around between motels, nursing homes and sleeping outside — made getting to doctor’s appointments and picking up medications more difficult. The eviction had made it harder to rent other housing and resulted in her losing her Section 8 voucher. Her mother died in 2024 while homeless.
“I started to kind of withdraw from certain people and certain things I enjoyed doing. It really messed with me mentally and also physically,” Allen said.
So Allen, with legal assistance, sued the landlord in 2025, alleging an “abuse of legal process and a violation of fundamental rights protected under Washington housing law.” Her suit also claimed discrimination given that she and her mother had disabilities. The earlier agreement, in which the Allens waived their usual eviction rights, was “negotiated under extreme pressure,” the case argued.
Princeton Property Management disputed those claims.
The company accused the Allens of refusing to allow inspections of their unit and of allowing an “extreme accumulation of garbage, debris, and filth throughout the apartment.” Those conditions were unsanitary and cost Princeton Property Management $20,000, the company said.
In the latest settlement agreement, the company maintained that it “denies any liability and asserts any liability would be substantially setoff based on the Alens’ conduct and the condition of the leased premises.”
Because some legal settlements are confidential, it’s difficult to determine settlement amounts for all similar cases, but the Northwest Justice Project believes the sum is the largest in state history for an alleged wrongful eviction.
After a yearslong legal process, Allen said the settlement payment, which will also cover her attorney’s fees, will help her stay in her current apartment and allow her to buy shoes and clothes for her sons, who are 17 and 13.
“I wanted to show people that there can be justice,” she said.
More cases like Allen’s could follow.
Although many evictions are legal, tenants who do face illegal evictions may have the right to sue their landlords. But they rarely have the resources to do so. A partnership between the Northwest Justice Project and private attorneys, known as the Tenant Advocacy Task Force, handled Allen’s case and aims to pursue more of those cases. Nearly 24,000 eviction cases were filed in Washington last year, a 3% increase from the year before.
“The amount of the settlement should give landlords a warning that it may seem quicker and cheaper to lock people out or to wrongfully evict them, but in the end, it could be quite costly,” said Scott Crain, acting director of advocacy at the Northwest Justice Project.
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